Heworth ARLC broke their National Conference division two duck thanks to an excellent first-half display against fellow strugglers Featherstone Lions.

New signing Aaron Wood showed the leadership that has recently been missing and Heworth, with the wind at their backs, attacked from all quarters on their way to a 28-10 win.

They took the lead on three minutes when a short pass from Aussie Wood put Luke Judson in under the posts. Mike Welsh added the goal.

Heworth went further ahead with a Welsh penalty on 18 minutes when Wood was fouled in a tackle in front of the sticks.

Featherstone responded on 21 minutes with an unconverted try from centre Adrian Taylor.

After a period of sloppy play by both sides, Heworth scored on 28 minutes when Judson ran across the line to create the opening for John Pinder to force his way over. Welsh added the goal.

The best try of the game came from the restart. Gareth Kirby fielded a high kick under pressure and squeezed out the pass. The ball was moved quickly along the line to Wood, who broke from his 22 and weaved upfield, using his support players as foils and standing the full-back up before going in at the corner.

Danny Briggs burst out of a weak tackle on the 22 to race in next to the posts and Welsh added a simple goal to put Heworth 24-4 ahead at half-time.

With the wind at their backs in the second half, Featherstone used a long kicking game to pin Heworth in their 22, and the Black and Whites spilled too much possession as they tried to force the game.

However, they restored some position for Pinder to cross after 57 minutes. He collected the ball at acting-half and held off two defenders as he went in at the corner.

The Villagers maintained the pressure but Featherstone scored when a Carl Potter bomb was well fielded by the visitors' centre Simon Thompson, who shot past the on-rushing attackers to race the length of the field. Chris Morgan goaled to make it 28-10 after 59 minutes.

Heworth, with excellent defence against albeit indifferent attacking, were always in control for the rest of the game but failed to convert the half-chances they created.

Judson was their man of the match, followed by Wood, who was less effective after the interval.

Updated: 11:36 Monday, October 03, 2005